Alex Ovechkin confirmed the obvious on Wednesday—he was frustrated by his coach's decision to keep him on the bench at a critical juncture late in the Capitals' come-from-behind win over the Anaheim Ducks.

"I was pissed off. Of course I want to be in that situation on the ice," Ovechkin, who reiterated that he understood why the decision was made, told reporters on Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.

Coach Bruce Boudreau sat Ovechkin after pulling goaltender Tomas Vokoun late in regulation on Tuesday. Nicklas Backstrom wound up scoring the game-tying goal. and Ovechkin came back to assist on Backstrom's overtime winner.

"It was just a little bit frustrating because I’m a leader in the team and I want that kind of responsibility," Ovechkin said, adding that he was happy for Backstrom.

As for the video of him appearing to swear at Boudreau, Ovechkin smiled and said, "It doesn’t matter who I said it, and what I said. It looked funny on TV."

Ovechkin, a former MVP and 65-goal scorer, has seen his offensive output and ice time decline over the past season-plus, but has assumed more defensive responsibilities and publicly supported the development.

The 26-year-old said he hasn't been benched since he was a teenager.

“It’s just how I said, frustrating, and that kind of situation pisses me off, but it’s good for the team and I have to respond for it,” Ovechkin said.

In any case, Boudreau's decision to play Backstrom with his third line paid off.

“They were playing good,” Boudreau, who added on Wednesday that players like Alex Semin have also sat at times this season, said in his postgame press conference. “Other guys, not so much.”

More specifically about Ovechkin, the coach said, “I thought other guys were better than him, and there was just a chance that other guys would score the goal. I’ve got to put out the guys that I think will score the goal, and 99 percent of the time, Alex is the guy I think is gonna score the goal. I just didn’t think he was gonna score the goal at that time tonight. You go with your gut feeling. … I got lucky.”

Ovechkin agreed with the call, both in a postgame interview and on Wednesday.

"(Brook Laich's) line deserve to be in that kind of moment on the ice and they played great last night, no doubt about it," he said.